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An impending political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to Israel's government and splitting the country.

The public mood on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now arguably the most divisive political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to end the deferment awarded to Haredi students engaged in Torah study, created when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to maintain it were officially terminated by the court last year, forcing the government to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Approximately 24,000 call-up papers were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to military testimony shared with lawmakers.

Friction Spill Onto the Streets

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with lawmakers now debating a new draft bill to force yeshiva students into military service in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

Two representatives were targeted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

And last week, a elite police squad had to extract Military Police officers who were attacked by a sizeable mob of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have prompted the establishment of a new communication network dubbed "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and mobilize activists to block enforcement from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish state. It doesn't work."

A Realm Separate

Yet the transformations blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their brightly coloured notepads popping against the lines of formal attire and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are engaged in learning," the leader of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, said. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the troops on the front lines. This is our army."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its security as its tanks and air force. This tenet was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Rising Popular Demand

The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its share of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now constitutes 14%. What began as an exemption for several hundred religious students turned into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a cohort of tens of thousands of men exempt from the conscription.

Surveys indicate backing for ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. Research in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - including a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed penalties for those who refused a draft order, with a firm majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the franchise.

"I feel there are individuals who live in this country without contributing," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to go and serve your state," said a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Inside Bnei Brak

Backing for broadening conscription is also found among religious Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and notes religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"It makes me angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I too follow the Torah, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the days of peace."

The resident manages a modest remembrance site in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were killed in battle. Lines of photographs {